Description:
Writing-arm chair made by Justin Chapin (1781-1827) who worked in West Springfield from 1801 to 1826. His printed label is glued to the underside of the seat: "MADE AND WARRENTED/By JUSTIN CHAPIN,/West-Springfield-North Parish." Chapin warrented or guaranteed his furniture to entice buyers in a competitive environment. Writing armchairs are often associated with ministers or doctors when their provenance is known. This chair was owned by Rev. Thomas Rand (1776-1857), a 1803 graduate of Brown University, who was among the first non-itinerant Baptist ministers in the lower Connecticut River Valley. Rand was pastor of the Second Baptist Church of West Springfield where he held the pulpit from its organization in 1803 to 1828. Rand is also known for "The Voice of the Turtle; a selection of devotional pieces in verse and prose, being the exercises of young converts," first printed by Nathaniel Heaton for the author, Wrentham, Mass., 1801. This form, with its writing surface and storage compartment, served as a desk, and its sturdy but lightweight design provided mobility to be able to take advantage of better light and warmth. Chapin constructed the simple base in the later "bamboo" style; and planed the underside of the seat to make it thin and light, but strong enough to support the superstructure mortised into it from above and below. Chapin was something of a cabinetmaker (or hired someone who was) as well as a turner; his estate inventory shows that aside from turning, he made sash, owned joiners' tools, and farmed. In 1801, Chapin advertised for a journeyman chairmaker and an apprentice to assist in the shop. His distant cousin, Eliphalet Chapin, like other master craftsmen, also hired journeymen who complemented his skills. The chair is supported by a medial stretcher base of bamboo turnings; below a thin carved seat which supports shaved spindles secured by a continuous arm that is surmounted by a comb and terminates in a broad writing surface with a drawer (assembled with dovetailed parts) below for a right-handed person. The drawer sides and inner runners are cherry. The legs, side stretcher, and medial stretcher are red maple. The seat bottom is basswood. The drawer bottom is white pine.
Label Text:
Windsor chairs are distinguished by turned legs, back spindles and arm supports that are socketed into solid plank seats. This example features back spindles that extend through the curved crest rail to form a decorative head rest, or comb. Its integral writing desk is designed for a right-handed user. Chapin achieved an airy, graceful composition by juxtaposing straight and curved lines in its back and seat, and contrasting the attenuated vase-shaped turnings of its arm supports with bamboo-like nodes in its legs and stretchers. Lightweight yet sturdy, this chair was easily moved to take advantage of available light and heat.
Newspaper advertisements for Windsor chairmakers began to appear in the 1770s, heralding the rise of specialists within the furniture-making trades who tooled their shops, and focused their skills, on the production of chairs. They stockpiled parts for mass assembly and produced chairs on speculation for retailers and cabinetmakers. A distant cousin of East Windsor, Connecticut cabinetmaker, Eliphalet Chapin, Justin Chapin operated a full-service cabinetmaking shop in West Springfield. Tools listed in his probate inventory indicate that he owned turning and joining tools and made sash. In 1801, he advertised for a journeyman chairmaker and an apprentice to assist in his shop, suggesting that either he, or another worker in his shop, made this chair. As the shop owner, he affixed his own label to the finished product.
Original owner:
Writing armchairs are often associated with professionals, particularly ministers and doctors. The Reverend Thomas Rand (1776-1857) first owned this chair. An 1803 graduate of Brown University, Rand served as pastor of the Second Baptist Church of West Springfield from 1803 to 1828.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+97.5 |
